A hikikomori who murdered the sister who had helped support his 30 years of reclusion has been given a 20 year prison sentence for murder, with the judge ruling that the 16-year sentence sought by the prosecution was too lenient and dismissing the defence’s arguments that it was all the fault of Asperger’s syndrome out of hand.

The unemployed 42-year-old man had lived as a hikikomori with the support of his older sister, then 46, for some 30 years, but started to blame his sister for his failure to end his reclusive dependency.

His unfounded resentment towards her culminated in him brutally stabbing her to death with a kitchen knife, resulting in him being arrested and tried for murder.

His lawyer rather optimistically sought a suspended sentence and probation instead of jail, arguing that he could not be held wholly responsible for the killing as his condition – he supposedly suffers congenital Asperger’s syndrome, a mental condition similar to autism and characterised by extremes of introversion – caused him anger management problems.

The Osaka court judge presiding was having none of it, and in fact thought the 16 year sentence the prosecution sought was too light, and sentenced him to 20 instead:

“After he had bodily and financially exhausted his elder sister, he irrationally opted to murder her.

The accused has displayed insufficient remorse for his crime and should he re-enter society there is concern he might re-offend in similar fashion.”

However, the judge did acknowledge his condition as a mitigating factor – although this merely worked against him as the judge suspected he would be unable to cope alone after killing the only person willing to take care of him:

“Your family does not want you living with them so you have nowhere to go, there is much worry about you re-offending. Keeping you imprisoned as long as the law allows will help protect public order.”

The defence plans to appeal the verdict, calling it “regrettable” that the judge did not buy their arguments that it was all the fault of Asperger’s syndrome and that he should be released, and chastising the judge for “basing a verdict on prejudice.”

Legal experts are nonplussed as well, complaining that “it is usual for the involvement of a mental illness to result in a reduction in sentencing, so there is a certain sense that the verdict is out of place.”

A mental illness charity also butted in to criticise the verdict:

“He did not regret his crime insufficiently, he merely did not understand what he was being told. Our worst fears about the lack of understanding of lay judges [a quasi-jury] have come to pass.”

However, as many mental health professionals do not even consider Asperger’s an “illness” and there is apparently as yet no history of it turning “sufferers” into sororicidal maniacs, even fellow sufferers may be none too sympathetic at their supposedly benign condition being stained with the stigma of bloody murder.

As someone who has Asperger's Syndrome myself, this is total bullshit. Asperger's is a social disorder, but it in no way can lead you to doing things like this, if someone has Asperger's and does something like this, it is their own fault along with anyone who had the opportunity to educate them and missed that chance. I have both Asperger's and High Functioning Autism, sure, I am on the higher end of the spectrum, I have known a number of people who have had it really bad, all over the charts. Blaming Asperger's for murdering your imouto is like blaming a math class being to difficult and indiscriminately attacking people in the street.

It can make one more susceptible to certain kinds of mental illness, yes. There's no real scientific evidence of anything being "caused" by Asperger's because societal ignorance puts persons with at a massive predisposition toward things like depression, bipolar disorder, agoraphobia, etc. ... This is from research, talk, and dealing with myself on a day-to-day basis.

This story is bullshit, though. By definition Asperger's is not a mental illness, for starters. Calling it as such is downright insulting. It's not something you can treat with a pill or that has a "cure". You can mitigate its impact on one's life as much as possible, and nothing more. This is why it's considered a disability in many cases.

That, and persons with Asperger's are more likely to have a refined sense of justice, even if their view on "right and wrong" and the definition of a victim can be a bit hazy at times. Aggression is very rare, and I can't think of any previous cases of anyone trying to "blame" a murder on Autism. It's nauseating to try to do so. And, so, yeah, it's total bullshit. Lock this man away, please.

With the right medical assistance, the condition can be managed. I speak from experience as I too have Asperger's, but with help from my family and doctors I am able to live a relatively normal life. However, a kid I knew in school had the same condition and was left untreated (due to lack of understanding of the condition), resulting in him becoming full-blown schitzophrenic (my worst fear, I might add).

Also have Asperger's. That itself is no reason for anyone to commit murder, and people with Asperger's may actually be far less likely to intentionally break the law than normal people.
Having any mental condition is difficult though and having them untreated is more likely to end badly.
So to kill his sister he would have had to be in a very bad mental state. The two big offenders though are probably 1) lack of mental health support. I don't know what the state of this is in Japan but I get the feeling finding help is very difficult, and 2) the cultural/social stigma of mental conditions, such that keeping someone hidden (as hikikomori) is seen as a reasonable option instead of having the "shame" of asking for help that the person really needs.
He should fully get the punishment, but he should also get counselling while in prison, or that prison sentence is likely to be a death sentence for someone with Asperger's (aka suicide). However the government should also look to itself, and see how it can prevent and help hikikomori and reduce the social stigma of getting help for mental health problems, so something like this doesn't happen again.

I often hear psychologists talk of this social stigma as if it was a factor in them not getting enough clients. There are more important matters, however. It would suffice for him to be depressed to be simply unable to force his body to comply with the rigors of a help-seeking venture. And no welfare means no insurance means expenses.

The default method of fixing anything seems to be to fill people up with drugs.

People who blame Asperger's for their commiting of criminal acts are the worst, because it creates stigma around those who actually have the disorder. This guy was clearly weak minded and couldn't control his own tendancies so he should be locked away for 20 years as he is a danger to society.

Just a heads up, Imouto means little sister, in this case it was the older sister that was murdered, so it's "Ane" "Oneesan" not Imouto. I just don't want people to be mis-informed if they're going to use Japanese words, please use them correctly.

Problem is Japan's culture is very flawed. Legal child porn, suppression of emotions, most of them are a bunch of beta males. Japan is just a really screwed up country. Sadly it won't get better because they like to cover up these truth with fake kindess and smiles.

You should really not jump to conclusions about the things you see on the news in the US.
There is tons of evidence that points to the "batman killer" being a patsy in a staged domestic terror event to further anti-gun legislation. The UN is trying to disarm the world and this was just what they needed to get people against guns so they can pass their gun registration treaty which will eventually lead to gun confiscation.
Yes people died, and it was an ugly event, but don't blame our society. Blame the criminals running our governments.

My brother had Asperger's too. It doesn't do anything to cause someone to kill their families. It's just another person trying to use legitimate conditions as an excuse for their crimes. If you ask me, I don't give a damn what mental illness or condition you have or claim to have. If you kill someone, you should just get killed right back.

Besides, if that really is your excuse to commit murder, isn't that even more of a reason to not reduce their sentence? Wouldn't that mean that they just might do it again with that as their excuse again?

Autism is not a mental illness. It's predominately genetic. There is no "cure". "Mild" is also... a bad way of putting things. There is no set line where you're considered to have it. People like to call it "mild Autism" because the outward appearance makes it look like there are no problems and the brain is generally a bit higher functioning, but it's Autism all the same.

Just figured I'd point that out.

Certain life conditions and situations caused as a result of someone having Autism might make them [theoretically] somewhat more likely to suffer certain mental illnesses, yes, but I've never heard of any case where it led to aggressive behaviour or violent crime.

The Autistic mind is actually quite an organized one. It thrives on structure. Think of it as a PC running on a different chipset and processor. There's nothing inherently wrong with it. It's just different. Unfortunately is difficult to make compatible with most "PCs" (society) and few people really understand it.

I don't believe autism-range disorders are caused by genetics. There are plenty of studies that link nutritional deficiencies in the mother during the first weeks pregnancy as a major factor in the development of these disorders. It has also been suggested that mercury poisoning can play a role in increased risk of development even after the child is born.

That's still unacceptable, killing your sister after taking care of your for 30 years is just pure unjustified bullshit. Asperger's syndrome my ass, it mainly just makes you unsociable, and there's no reason to kill your sister over it.

Then again, maybe I'm just biased towards this guy because my little sister is gone too.

you can feel sorry if want. but there are far worst articles bout this subject. think they have them on here somehwere. Think one of them nearly kille dthe whole family becuase they cut him off from the internet or credit card usage. The mother of another jumpe dout of a 3rd or 2nd story building to escape from being stabbed to death.

Asperger's is called a 'high functioning' mental illness and is sometimes not even recognized by certain professionals for a reason. That is, it doesn't impair your judgment nearly as much as you make it sound. They are not mentally retarded. They are quite aware of something so basic as killing people is wrong (at least as far as civilized society is concerned) and that there are consequences for it. You are basically insulting everyone else who have properly diagnosed Aspergers. Shame. This asshole has no right or basis to 'hide' behind Aspergers and demand a free get out of jail card.

I know a good many people who suffer Aspergers (hell, I myself do) and I can tell you it works nothing of the sort. Asperger blocks or redirects a good bunch of basic emotions, causing those suffering it to appear "weird" or "strange" to others because they cannot feel quite the right way, if there is such a thing. Complex emotions often are not processed/understoof at all. This creates some unusual behaviours and makes other people less likely to talk with them, causing unsocialisation. In more severe cases sufferers of Asperger become depressed because of that.

There is however absolutely no way that Asperger causes a total emotional deafness and claiming that it's responsible for a person to kill someone because they simply don't feel anything due to it is an outright lie.